An Embroidered Nutcracker Doll

I started working on this embroidered Nutcracker doll for O(5) as soon as she got the letter saying she'd be dancing as a mouse and a cherub in The Nutcracker ballet this year! She did a great job, and we were all so proud of her!




I've wanted to embroider a Nutcracker doll for her ever since last year when she was a cherub in The Nutcracker, but I couldn't find a pattern. This year I realized that I could just make my own pattern!

Last year (after Christmas) I bought this wooden Nutcracker (from Michael's) to give to O this year (she LOVED coloring him!). Before I gave it to her, I copied it on a copy machine. I traced the copy with a red transfer pen and ironed the pattern onto a piece of fabric. Then I got to work! It took many, many, many weeks to finish this little guy, but it was totally worth it (I could only work when O was asleep, so she wouldn't see him!). I usually only use the backstitch when I embroider because it's what I'm comfortable with, but I made myself learn the stem stitch and the split stitch (very easy, but more time consuming than the back stitch) as I was making him.





After I finished the embroidery work, my mom swooped in and finished him for me! THANKS, Mom! (I'm never good at the finishing work, but she is perfect at it!). We used a piece of velvety red fabric from one of my old shirts for the back of the Nutcracker, so that he would be super soft for O to snuggle. After I cut the red fabric, my mom pinned the Nutcracker to it back to back, and she then sewed it using the sewing machine. I stuffed him and closed him using the blind stitch (my first time doing this stitch, and it was easier than I thought it would be!).




Here's a pic of his velvety back.



And here's a close-up of his face.




He's not perfect, but O loves him and that's all that matters!  E(2) is planning to be in The Nutcracker when she is 4, so I guess I'll be making another one of these guys in a couple of years!